ICECO fridge issues (1 Viewer)

[staffaction]

we recently bought the 2 zone iceco fridge.

After it worked inconsistently in the GX 2 instances in a row we were able to get a replacement from them. It took awhile but got it done. Phew.

But that didn't solve the problem. The new one is still inconstant [It won't reliably cool the zones to what they are set at. It may cool one zone far cooler than set and may cool the other not enough]. And I've narrowed down that it only has the issues when powered through the car 12V connection. The fridge adjusts temps in the zones just fine when plugged in to the house.

So it must be something either with the power supply from car or internal to the fridge with using that particular power supply (differing plug, obviously). I am at my whits end on this and this is so tiring and a let down given that it was so expensive. I'm going to call them about this but wanted to hear from you all if you have any ideas as to what could be causing this.

Their initial support wasn't that helpful and based on last time it would go the same - take time stamped pictures with both zones set to "0", then send us the pictures. So maybe I just got a bad product again that can't cool to set temps on car 12V connection? Odds seem low but who knows.. It is Chinese after all... throwing it out here for ideas.

(car power is fine. new deep cell battery, electrical work done by someone who knows what he's doing. So I highly, highly doubt the issue is on 'our' side.)

 

[DasBeast]

Is the wiring for the 12V connection at least real 10 gauge wire? What is the connection point? My experience with ARB fridges is the wire must be 10 gauge all the way from the battery to fridge or there will be issues. The connection point must also be secure and tight so it won't wiggle loose during driving. Is the fridge's cord different between the house (AC) and the car (DC)? It is on the ARB fridges. Could be the DC cord?

 

[peesalot]

In my experience if runs/cools on 110v then it is a supply issue on the 12 v since the 110 is converted to 12v in the Iceco's.
With nothing hooked up/ plugged in what is your batt voltage ? Plug in cord to vehicle, unplug at fridge, test voltage, plug fridge in, what voltage it say ? Does fridge have a low volt cut off ? did it kill the battery ? if so, how long was it on without running vehicle ? did the fridge lights and controls function properly when it exibihted the symptoms ? Did it show any codes ? Were you able to see the fridges voltage dispay ? was it different when sitting vs. when running ? Is it plugged into a dedicated circuit or an oem vehicle circuit ? I run mine direct to batt, since they added the low voltage cut off tech it is really the best way to insure what voltage the fridge is getting and it isolates it. Possibly run a Jackery or similar, power that off where you currently power the fridge. That in essence adds a second batt, it gives a buffer or surge tank if you will to the fridge power supply. Thats just an improvement, it should run fine on the vehicle batt provided it is sized accordingly and in good shape. What size fridge ? and FWIW its running draw is say 5 ish amps maybe 7 so a 10 amp circuit at minimum, whatever its plugged into when exhibiting the symptoms, what was the amp rating on that circuit ? Is the low volt cut off protection "ON" ? The symptoms you describe are a low volt issue so either it aint gettin enough or the ground is bad. Maybe not your ground, I have taken those control boxes apart and lets just say that the assembly is not perfect and sometimes the connections/wiring in there is just loose, I had a diff manuf. with same controls and I knew they were suspect so I opened it up and found the fan was completely loos laying on the coil. Just sayin it may be inside but sure sounds like a supply prob.

 

[Corbet]

Wire it temporarily direct to your vehicle battery and test it’s performance. If fine then you know it’s the 12v supply circut in the vehicle. In my experience OEM 12v outlets lack the power needed to run a fridge. Running a dedicated circuit with appropriate guage wire is probably your solution.

 

[Mauser]

I bought an Iceco fridge a little over a month ago and have the same problems.

I did run a 10 guage wire to the the outlet for the fridge hoping it was the problem. It didn't help.

 

[Corbet]

I’ve only had mine a week and haven’t done anything other than turn it on. Only thing I noticed is that it cooled the left hand side (fridge) side before cooling the right set to freeze. I didn‘t take any temp measurements manually. Everything seems to work fine.

 

[theiceyman]

Hi guys,

I realize this is an old thread, but I experienced something similar this past week with my brand new ICECO dual zone fridge. The left zone was far below (15-20F) the set point while the right zone was far above (15-20F) the setpoint. This happened several times on the trip, but wasn't consistent.

I am suspecting that it's not a 120V vs 12V issue -- but more of a vibration issue. Maybe someone from this forum can confirm that when they have NOT seen the issue on 120V that the cooler is stationary.

I believe the way these coolers work is with a valve in the refrigerant path to control which "zone" it's being sent to. I'm thinking the failure mechanism is when the cooler flips this valve to cool the right path, and then through road bump / vibration the valve moves to the other position. If this happened, the cooler is actually cooling the left zone, but believing that it's cooling the right zone. And since the right zone doesn't get an colder, it just keeps cooling and cooling -- the result would be an over-cooled left zone and an under-cooled right zone.

 

[AgentOrange]

Hi guys,

I realize this is an old thread, but I experienced something similar this past week with my brand new ICECO dual zone fridge. The left zone was far below (15-20F) the set point while the right zone was far above (15-20F) the setpoint. This happened several times on the trip, but wasn't consistent.

I am suspecting that it's not a 120V vs 12V issue -- but more of a vibration issue. Maybe someone from this forum can confirm that when they have NOT seen the issue on 120V that the cooler is stationary.

I believe the way these coolers work is with a valve in the refrigerant path to control which "zone" it's being sent to. I'm thinking the failure mechanism is when the cooler flips this valve to cool the right path, and then through road bump / vibration the valve moves to the other position. If this happened, the cooler is actually cooling the left zone, but believing that it's cooling the right zone. And since the right zone doesn't get an colder, it just keeps cooling and cooling -- the result would be an over-cooled left zone and an under-cooled right zone.

I have 2 ICECO fridges, one in each rig, but just the VL45s. I do notice that the temp the display states is not the temperature actually in the fridge. All I did was make myself a little test and put a bunch of food and drinks in it and dropped a wired thermometer in and waited for it to settle and adjusted the set temp on the display until the inside was where I wanted. A little tedious, yes, but I don't have problems. I wish I could just calibrate it

 

[staffaction]

Hi guys,

I realize this is an old thread, but I experienced something similar this past week with my brand new ICECO dual zone fridge. The left zone was far below (15-20F) the set point while the right zone was far above (15-20F) the setpoint. This happened several times on the trip, but wasn't consistent.

I am suspecting that it's not a 120V vs 12V issue -- but more of a vibration issue. Maybe someone from this forum can confirm that when they have NOT seen the issue on 120V that the cooler is stationary.

I believe the way these coolers work is with a valve in the refrigerant path to control which "zone" it's being sent to. I'm thinking the failure mechanism is when the cooler flips this valve to cool the right path, and then through road bump / vibration the valve moves to the other position. If this happened, the cooler is actually cooling the left zone, but believing that it's cooling the right zone. And since the right zone doesn't get a colder, it just keeps cooling and cooling -- the result would be an over-cooled left zone and an under-cooled right zone.

I feel for you! It’s so inconvenient ent? Especially if food is ruined!

In my case - vibration is not the causal issue.

Ambient heat (think, warm days in AZ) seems to set the conditions for it to pull more juice than normal al from the battery and it soon goes wonky. If I catch it early, I pull it out of the car and put it in my shed and connector to Jackery where it fixes itself. I have also put a Jackery in the car and plugged it in there (AC) and it corrected itself.

What gets me is that even when I have a solar panel connected to car charge controller, the battery still cannot keep up after several hours typically.

 

[Corbet]

Now with 2 years ownership on mine I don’t have any temperature complaints. I’ve never measured independently against the display. But food has always remained cold or frozen to my satisfaction. It rides in a trailer that sees off-road duty. That said as it’s not in the truck so I don’t use it as often as my other fridges.

 

[staffaction]

Now with 2 years ownership on mine I don’t have any temperature complaints. I’ve never measured independently against the display. But food has always remained cold or frozen to my satisfaction. It rides in a trailer that sees off-road duty. That said as it’s not in the truck so I don’t use it as often as my other fridges.

Connected via 12v? What kind of battery?

 

[peesalot]

staffaction, how much solar ? sounds like the car batt is done.

 

[staffaction]

staffaction, how much solar ? sounds like the car batt is done.

Car battery is virtually brand news I used to have that as a theory but it was recently replaced.

(Odyssey Extreme Series Battery Group 34 )

I have a 100w (I think..) solar panel I attach when stationary. So it’s getting maybe 80w? Which should be enough to sustain fridge.

That’s what gets me, when the fridge is running its system it’s pulling ~65 watts. Then turns off, then on.

The one thing I usually do is have the iceco on “eco” mode in the vehicle so it doesn’t drain the battery too fast.. I could try the “regular” mode more and see what happens but am doubtful..

I’ve basically given up on this and have resigned myself to the fact that I have a suboptimal product 2 times in a row somehow. And I am able to quickly remove fridge and put it in my shed for Jackery connection when I see it going wonky.

Soon will have a small permanent solar system at up at my location I usually visit and that will help me be less dependent on car system.

 

[staffaction]

Is the wiring for the 12V connection at least real 10 gauge wire? What is the connection point? My experience with ARB fridges is the wire must be 10 gauge all the way from the battery to fridge or there will be issues. The connection point must also be secure and tight so it won't wiggle loose during driving. Is the fridge's cord different between the house (AC) and the car (DC)? It is on the ARB fridges. Could be the DC cord?

The only item you listed here that I suppose could be an issue is that I wired with 12 gauge. 90% sure anyway.

I wonder how that would make a difference? When the fridge needs to “work hard” for longer than normal, I.e, use ~65 watts for several minutes non stop that is too much for 12 awg

 

[Corbet]

Connected via 12v? What kind of battery?

A 200ah Renogy gel cell. If you follow the link below to my camper you can see all the details. It’s a long run front to back with probably 14 gauge wire but I’d have to contact Sasquatch to confirm. I rarely see my battery below 50% as I generally connect a solar panel in camp.

 

[e9999]

^^ How is 65W too much for 12AWG? If you mean heat, ampacity for 12ga is about 20A for typical insulation, that is 250W or so for a 12V system.

Length is a possible but different issue.